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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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In this meditation, we'll practice stepping back from our thoughts, letting them come and go, so that they (or we) start to settle and relax.
Today, we're going to work
with relaxing our thoughts.
So if you haven't already done so,
you can find a comfortable posture.
And invite the eyes to close,
if that feels okay for you.
But you don't have to.
Sometimes closing the eyes when we're
anxious can make us more anxious.
So do what feels comfortable for you.
We'll start by tuning into
the sound of the bell.
Let's take a nice deep breath together.
In through the nose.
And slowly out through the mouth.
Inviting the jaw to soften, so that
the teeth are no longer clenched.
Letting the shoulders be at ease,
as much as they're willing to be.
And letting the belly soften.
And any other part of the body that
might be holding tension or gripping in
even the slightest or subtlest of ways.
We'll settle our attention
on our breathing, similar
to what we did yesterday.
And if you want to place one
hand on your belly, you can.
Now a lot of times when we're
experiencing anxiety, our thoughts
are all over the place and they can
feel really powerful and strong,
like they have control over us.
The tendency is to push those
thoughts or to change them or get
rid of them, or to get mad at them.
We're going to practice
something different here.
Instead of pushing them, we're just
going to watch them as if we were
watching cars driving down the highway
or watching clouds pass through the sky.
So when you're ready, just start
to notice what thoughts are moving
through your mind right now.
No matter how anxious or nervous
or worrisome they may be, you're
just kind of watching them.
Just another thought.
Just another cloud.
Letting your body be totally at ease.
And noticing how you can feel that
sense of groundedness while your
thoughts do whatever they're going
to do, worrying about this or that.
And you just get to go, Oh,
there's another thought.
Hmm.
There's another thought.
You can even smile at them as they pass.
What is it like to be an
observer to your thinking rather
than caught in your thinking?
If the thoughts represent the waves on
top of the ocean, we're just sinking
down a little deeper into the sea.
So that we can look up and sort
of see the waves, but where we are
is much deeper and more settled.
In a moment I will ring the bells to close
our meditation, and when I do just bring
your full presence and focus to the sound
until it dissolves back into silence.
And if your eyes have been closed,
you're welcome to open them now.
And you did a great job today.
So this might've been a new
technique for you, a new way
of relating to your thoughts.
As you go throughout your day and you
notice these thoughts moving through
the mind, see if you can create just
a little bit of space with them.
Not pushing them, not fighting them,
but just watching them as if they
were clouds passing through the
sky, or as if you were eavesdropping
on someone else's conversation.
Try this out.
You could come back to this
meditation again today.
Until then, take care.
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